Endgame
by ShawnC
Summary: For every beginning there is an end. The Forever Knights have created a weapon that would destroy the dragon race and our heroes must stop them. But at what price? NOW COMPLETED. Thank you to all my readers!
1. Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: "Ben 10: Alien Force" and related products are copyrighted to Man of Action. I only use the characters for fan fiction.**

**This story is going to be a darker one than what you usually find around here. Darker even than what the show itself is like. Please read, enjoy, and leave me some reviews. Also, if I seem a little new to this, it's because I am. First fan fic, yay! And now some poetry to lead us to the story.**

_There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: __  
__ A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, __  
__ A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, __  
__ A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, __  
__ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, __  
__ A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, __  
__ A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, __  
__ A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace._

-Solomon

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

From the group of three teenagers, the only sound that can be heard is that of smoothies being sucked dry by the one wearing a green sports jacket, a large number "10" on the back. It's been awkwardly quiet since they showed up, a half hour ago.

The other two sit on the same side of the outdoors table, but keep their distance and don't even do so much as glance at each other. It's unbearable how silent they are. _I wish an alien would attack us or something_, the green-clad one thinks to himself. He glances at both of them. First, his redheaded cousin who is almost exactly his age, right down to the day. She looks somewhat depressed and clearly uncomfortable. Then his eyes move to the other, who is much stronger than both of them and taller. This one's eyes also gaze away, not wanting anyone's attention. A stony expression which he has had ever since he and the smaller young man joined forces for reasons dubious at best.

"Hey Kevin," Ben calls out, unable to withstand the silence any longer. "I heard there was a car show going on next Saturday."

The other pretends to be interested and faces him. "Where at?"

"Jamestown," Ben replies.

"Huh. I'll have to check it out." Kevin makes a visible glance towards his car, in the opposite direction of his girlfriend. Of course, he'd never let it out of his sight. It's one-half of his life.

More quiet. A couple kids show up and seat themselves around another table nearby. The trio silently half-focus on what the other kids are saying, since none of them have anymore conversation worth making.

Finally, seeing the futility of being there, Ben says, "There's a new show starting in a little while that I'd like to see. We should head home."

"Alright," Kevin says, knowing that it's implied he's going to be driving them home.

Gwen joins the other two as they enter Kevin's green and black car. The two cousins get in the back seats and the vehicle turns on and drives off into the suburban area.

First to get dropped off is Ben. He says "Goodbye" to his cousin and his teammate and watches as they drive off. He proceeds to go inside, greets his parents as he passes the living room, and enters his bedroom. The show isn't on for another hour, so he decides to channel surf. Eventually, a program he likes comes on. "The Evolution of Sports".

After that, the new show is aired for the first time. It's another one of those cartoons about a teenager who somehow gains superpowers and ends up having to use them to save the planet. Ben has always had a certain fondness for those kinds of programs, and over the past seven years he has seen several come and go, and all of them were pretty good to him.

Just as the main character is about to use his powers for the first time, Ben's cell phone rings. Julie. She is always more important than a silly TV show. He lowers the volume on the television and answers her. "Hey Julie."

"Hi Bennie," she replies, using her favorite pet name for him. "Whatcha' doing?"

"Watching a new TV show. But I don't mind if I miss it. There'll always be reruns."

The begin to converse and it lasts for hours. They started dating two years ago and are now a very close couple. Gwen and Kevin like to call them "The Hero and His Girlfriend". They continue to talk while Julie takes Ship out for a walk - something that Ben still can't understand - and it is not until the sun has long set that they finally begin their "Goodnight" routine, which lasts another fifteen minutes.

Julie is able to get Ben to hang up first. He takes his shower and puts on the boxer shorts he will wear for bed that night. It's late in the spring and the temperatures have reached that comfortable level where only a couple blankets are needed. He still thinks about Julie, and how they're three weeks from graduation, and about how they were chosen to be the Prom King and Queen, and how they both know for sure they're going to be high school sweethearts.


	2. Superweapon

**Last chapter, we discovered that it had been seven years since Ben first discovered the Omnitrix. Things have changed greatly between the two pairs which almost everyone has expected to be together. With these things in mind, we continue on...**

**Disclaimer (and is it really needed to say this at the start of each chapter?): "Ben 10: Alien Force" is copyrighted to Man of Action. I only use their characters for this fan fic.**

Chapter 2: Superweapon

Ben's alarm starts to ring at 7:15 AM. He lazily puts on his clothes for the day and assembles his school materials, including half-done homework. It didn't matter much to him anymore how well he did in school, since graduation was practically guaranteed for him. Getting straight B's was more than anyone would figure he could do, but it's plenty enough for him.

Starting a couple years ago, Ben decided that it was too inconvenient to walk or be driven. Why do that, when he could fly? Having learn to overcome the instinctive urge to exclaim the name of whatever form he transforms into, Ben activates the Omnitrix and brings up the form of a flying alien that almost looks like a stingray. He presses down on the watch's head and his room is engulfed with green light. The Omnitrix melds into his body, quickly reforming the cells into a new structure called Jetray. He grips the backpack with his right hand, steps into the backyard and, seeing no one is around to notice him, flies off to school. Ben locates the place he usually lands at, turns back to normal, and continues his morning as though he were a typical student. Except he isn't, and everyone knows that.

Ben walks up to his locker and puts his things into it. There's only one class where he has homework, and there'll be a study hall immediately before that. So he goes back outside where people like to hang out in the nice weather.

The sun is already up. He waits for a couple minutes and then feels his heart skip a beat when the vehicle he had been expecting arrives. Then when the dark-haired girl steps out, his heart leaps again. She says "See you later" to whoever was driving and walks up to Ben, who in the meanwhile has taken a seat on the ledge of a low window.

"Hey Julie," Ben says.

"Hey there Bennie," Julie replies. She puts her bag on the ground and sits next to them. They embrace each other and kiss, which since day one hasn't failed to send electricity throughout Ben's body. With no tennis practice today, the two of them are content to stick together for a little while. Then their respective groups of friends arrive and, with another kiss to hold them over until they meet again, they separate.

After fifty minutes, the morning hang out time has ended. Ben goes to his locker like the rest of the people and get the books he will need for the morning classes. He notices that the students and teachers that he pass, even after two years fully aware of his superhero status, still briefly glance at him and his wrist, showing various emotions ranging from awe to suspicion. Of course, he takes it all in stride. _It's what happens when you're a hero_, Ben thinks to himself.

He and James, the boy who sits next to him in homeroom, chat for a few minutes before the announcements start. Then, since they're all seniors just a few weeks from graduating, everyone resumes their conversations, the homeroom teacher not saying anything to stop them. Then the bell rings, ending homeroom and beginning another day where Ben listens just enough to hear what is being said while waiting for it to be over.

Gwen goes to a private high school, but also leaves early because she takes a couple college classes at the local community college. Kevin... well, he spends his time with working at the garage and illegally trading alien technology.

When lunchtime rolls around Ben finds himself sitting at his usual table, with people who he didn't know of before junior year. The only ones he lets get close to him is Julie and a few others. The rest, he knows, just want to be there because he's an icon. Even a couple of the more sociable teachers take a moment to banter with him as they walk by his table.

School ends with no homework. He sees Julie one more time before she gets picked up, and then heads into the bathroom. He enters a stall, turns the dial on the Omnitrix and a hologram showing the outline of Big Chill appears. Before he can activate it, his cell phone vibrates. A text message, from Kevin. _Must be serious_, Ben thinks with feign solemnity. _He never texts me._

It reads, "Come to the garage after school. We have a situation with the Forever nights. I'll pick up Gwen."

Ben ignores the urge to taunt Kevin about his spelling error and double-checks to make sure the bathroom is empty, and goes through with his transformation. Since he doesn't have his bookbag, it won't look like there's a flying object in the air.

It is a short fly to the garage, where he lands behind the building and reverts to human form. There he finds the doors unlocked and he enters, to find Kevin and Gwen standing there in silence.

"What's up?" Ben asks.

"We got someone who wants to talk to you," Kevin says. He adds a piece of sarcasm with, "Big surprise there, huh?"

From behind a door a man with a shaky disposition steps out. The stranger looks at Ben and scrutinizes him. With a western accent and light voice the newcomer says, "This isn't how he looks in the pictures."

"No duh," Kevin says. "It's called adolescence. People grow, you know."

"Are you Ben Tennyson?" the man asks Ben.

"The one and only," Ben replies, lifting the arm with the Omnitrix.

The man sighs in relief and begins the message in a hurried pace. "I am Agent Nolan Grebe, a spy for the Plumbers." Grebe proves his identity from pulling out his Plumber's badge. "I was infiltrating the Forever Knights because of suspicious activity, and they caught me. If it weren't for some of your recent activities I would not have made it out. But now I am and I must warn you that they are up to something major. _Major_."

"Like what?" Gwen interjects.

Agent Grebe glances towards her. "Gwendolyn Tennyson?"

"Yes."

"As you all are undoubtedly aware of, the Forever Knights exist solely to destroy the Draconoids. Well, they have gone so far as to forge an alliance with some Highbreed rebels and are preparing a superweapon that would destroy the Draconoid homeworld."

The three teenagers flinch and tense. "That's a lot of firepower," Kevin comments.

"Didn't you tell the Plumbers?" Gwen asks.

"I did, but it's bogged down in bureaucracy and red tape and the nearest Plumbers are all on assignment right now. Forces are planned to be sent but it's going to take too long. The Forever Knights are almost done with it." He pulls out a sketch pad with some drawings in it. "These are the pictures and schematics I have of it and their building."

Kevin and Gwen stand on either side of Ben and join him in observing the images. It's all technical information that Ben can't understand.

"Kevin, what can you make of this?" Ben asks.

"It looks like they pretty much tore a particle weapon from a battlecruiser and plugged it in to some fusion batteries," Kevin says. "But I don't know what most of this means."

"You three have more experience than anyone who can get here within reasonable time," Agent Grebe continues. "That Omnitrix has made you three some of our most valuable members. Well, two of you anyway."

Kevin gives the spy a quick dirty look but then resumes studying the pictures. You can't be a Plumber when you trade on the black market.

"Will you three be able to stop them? There are over thirty billion Draconoids, and all of their lives are at stake."

Ben pauses to give the diagrams one more look then says, "I'll do it."

"So will I," Gwen adds.

All three of them turn to Kevin. He sees all of them watching him and sighs. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Thank you," Agent Grebe says. "Even if you can't completely disable them, if you could at least slow them down the Plumbers would be able to foil them." He walks to the front door and says, "We're depending on you," and exits.

"We're depending on you," Kevin mocks. "I bet you hear that a lot."

"I say we get going now. The building is a ways out and from the sounds of it, we can't let the Forever Knights keep working," Ben starts.

"Ben, we can't just jump into action like that," Gwen interrupts. "We need to plan this out and get ready." She pauses a moment to consider the situation. "I say we do this tomorrow, after school."

"Tomorrow?" Ben asks, not liking the idea of having to wait. "They could be done by tonight!"

"If it were that urgent Grebe would have told us."

Ben sighs. "Alright, tomorrow."

"Good. For now, we need to figure out what we're up against and how we're going to fight them."

Gwen leads them in planning the logistics of the infiltration, since neither one of them quite have analytical skills like her.

"We'll drive up there and then Ben, you turn into Big Chill and check out what is inside the building then come back out and tell us. Then all three of us will storm in, take out whoever is in there, and secure the building. Let's memorize as much of these as we can."

They spend an hour looking at the diagrams, committing them to memory. It would be longer, except when Gwen silently refuses to get near Kevin repeatedly, it becomes clear that they're all having trouble focusing on the papers. So they stop for the day and Ben flies home, while Gwen gets into the back seat of the car and Kevin gives her a ride.

Another night ends with Ben and Julie chatting on the phone for hours before dreaming about the alien worlds and races of his past and of the terrifying dangers that await him.

And elsewhere, late into the night, a cell phone rings. The caller has amends to make, but when the recipient sees the number, the phone is set to silent and utterly ignored.


	3. Your Days are Limited

**Recap for Chapter 2: We saw a brief glance into the typical school day of Ben and then they met for an emergency meeting with a Plumbers spy because a Forever Knights/Highbreed conspiracy was under way.**

**Disclaimer: "Ben 10: Alien Force" is copyrighted to Man of Action. I only use the characters for this fan fiction.**

Chapter 3: Your Days are Limited

7:15 AM. Again. Time to repeat the daily routine. Ben gets dressed and finds a pleasant "Good morning" text from Julie, which he promptly replies to. Then, when he's ready to go, it's off to the Jetray form again. At school he and Julie are able see each other, adding yet another day of bliss to their lives. Yet Ben is obviously uneasy in their morning get-together.

"What's wrong?" Julie asks him.

"I'm going to be against the Forever Knights later," he says, expressing concern. "They got some kind of superweapon or whatever and it's up to me and the other two to stop it from being finished."

Julie's heart skips a beat. She has been in the heat of battle alongside him, but when she has always been nervous when her boyfriend was risking his life without her. But she tries to bring peace to herself and him. "Well, you have Gwen and Kevin."

"Kevin and Gwen aren't talking," Ben says with an irritated tone, out of annoyance with how his cousin and her boyfriend can barely look at each other. "It's kind of hard to fight when you can't trust your teammates."

"Oh," she simply replies. She knows his irritation isn't from anything she did. After a pause she asks, "How many aliens can you turn into now?"

"Uh, twenty-six, I think."

"Twenty-six. That should be more than enough for you to show how good you are."

"I guess," Ben replies. "I-I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. Something's weird. It just seems _wrong_."

Julie wraps her arms around Ben and kisses his cheek, which soothes him just a little. "I think you'll be fine."

"Hey Julie!" one of the other girls from the tennis team call out to her. "Practice is starting!" The girl notices Ben. "Hi Ben!"

Julie jogs up to the girl. "See you later Ben!"

"Bye," he answers.

Even after seven years, it's difficult to keep yourself focused on schoolwork when an epic espionage/battle mission is just hours away. Ben and Julie sit together again for lunch, and she notices how occupied he is. Everyone else sees it too.

"Dude, are you going to kick more alien butt?" one of his "friends" asks, excited about the idea.

"You should take a camera with!" another one adds. "I wanna see you in action."

"It's hero time!" yet another adds.

"Will you guys please just shut up?" Ben asks tersely.

They go silent very quickly.

Ben realizes what he has just done and sighs. "Sorry, I just don't want to hear the hero worship right now." He raises his left arm with his elbow on the table, displaying the Omnitrix, his hand in a victorious fist. _I'm faking strength for them, again._ "Tomorrow we can talk about this. Alright?"

"Yeah, cool," the first person says.

Julie glances at Ben and smiles.

The remaining three hours of school won't go by fast enough. After the minor outburst, the kids around him are a little bit more hesitant to show their awe, since he clearly doesn't want to see it. Class ends, he waves goodbye to his posse, kisses Julie and secludes himself in the bathroom, where he flies off to the garage.

He finds once again that Kevin and Gwen are already there. Gwen sits towards the back on a chair, still in her school uniform. Her elbows rest on the arms of the chair, her hands brought together and interlaced, anticipating what to expect. Kevin leans against his car, arms crossed, watching the smaller young man enter. He covered in spots of grease, from working on his car all day.

"Are we ready to go?" Ben asks.

"May as well," Kevin replies.

A man across the street notices them and stops dead in his tracks. He is not unkempt, although his dark eyes have a wild look to them. He stares at the ground briefly, looking puzzled and uncertain. Then he begins crossing the street towards them. "Hey!"

The three young adults turn their heads towards him and watches as he walks up to them.

"I need to tell you something," the man says. Everyone is silent and puzzled. The stranger takes a deep breathe and continues. "Your days are limited. Don't waste the time you have left. You're young and prone to be reckless. But don't be foolish."

Ben and Gwen exchange confused looks while Kevin is clearly more irritated by the interruption.

"Can we help you?" Kevin asks.

"No, just... just be careful. Life isn't as long as you think it is. I know, you're young, you got all the time in the world. Or so you think." He proceeds to look Ben in the eye and consider him. Then the man switches to Kevin and is somehow unaffected by the stony look he gets in return.

Finally the stranger's eyes fall on Gwen. "You. You should know this better than the other two. Yes, you need to be the most careful." The man reaches out and puts his hand on her shoulder as if to comfort her.

"Hey, hands off!" Kevin yells. He forcibly pushes the man to the ground.

"Kevin!" Gwen protests.

Instead of fighting back or yelling, the man simply gets himself back up and sweeps the dirt off of his jeans. He nods at the group and begins to walk off. "I gave you the warning, now you can heed it or disregard as you please."

"Let's go," Ben says.

Kevin obviously wants to beat on the man more but decides against it. "Alright. In the car."

Ben and Gwen sit beside each other in the back seat, buckle up and the green and black vehicle roars to life. A quick stop to the gas station for fuel, snacks and drinks and they begin the long ride to where the Forever Knights are.

Everyone is obviously nervous. Gwen stares out the window at the fields they pass. Ben can see her expression reflecting off the window. She's worried about the mission, which he finds odd. _She's taken on aliens five times her strength, but this is bothering her?_

The ride remains silent, Kevin intently looking at the winding road. To kill time, Ben presses the button on the Omnitrix and goes through the aliens he can access. _Swampfire, Echo Echo, Humongousaur, Jetray, Big Chill, Chromastone, Brainstorm, Spidermonkey... _He goes through all twenty-six of them three times, examining their familiar silhouettes and holograms before shutting off the Omnitrix and watching the cows stare at them as they pass.

Another hour into the ride and Ben pulls out one of his snacks and slowly eats. They pass a tiny town.

"We're almost there," Kevin breaks the extended quiet with.

Five minutes later, Kevin slows down his car and they approach the factory. Of course, it looks empty and run down, but for the Forever Knights that's usually where they do their work. Everyone gets out of the car and takes in the sight. A gray, dull building almost the size of a football field with large windows near the roof. Inside, lights are on.

"Here I go," Ben says.


	4. End of Gwendolyn Part 1

**Disclaimer: "Ben 10: Alien Force" is copyrighted to Man of Action. I only use the characters for this fan fiction.**

**I apologize for how long it's been since the last update. Life has been rather busy as of late. But, here it is!**

Chapter 4: End of Gwendolyn  
He brings up Big Chill and is engulfed in the familiar green light. He nods at the other two, turns invisible, and flies up to a window.

Taking up half of the room is one large item. It looks like a massive pole lying on its side, with an even more massive donut around its center. The pointed tips of the pole are held up by support pylons. At various spots there are control panels that trained Knights use to configure and test it.

_That's no particle weapon._

Surrounding them are something Ben has not seen before. They look like knee-high tanks. Some stand guard on the ground, while others stroll across the walls, and still more move their turrets around constantly, hanging on the ceiling, observing everything. _I wonder if those tanks are using magnets to ride on walls and ceilings,_ Ben thinks. _Lodestar could take care of those._

Suddenly, Ben jumps back in the air about five feet. Three of the tanks have driven onto the window and are now aiming their turrets straight at Ben. But they're not doing anything, just standing there, investigating.

Ben cautiously approaches the window again. _Do they know I'm here?_ A couple Knights down below see the tanks standing there and make an impromptu meeting, pointing at the sight. He decides to test his theory and moves a few feet to the left. The turrets follow his move and then the tanks drive to match his location. One of the men on the floor see this and point a finger off in a seemingly random direction, then nods.

The tanks start firing at him, making perfectly round holes in the glass. Several more drive up to the scene and join in the barrage. Ben can feel shots of heat run through his transparent body. But there's no sound. In fact, the only sign that the tanks are firing besides the glass is the fact that the inside of their turrets are glowing red.

Ben turns to his cohorts. "They know I'm here!" he shouts. "Let's go!"

As Kevin and Gwen begin running to the nearest door, Ben flies in and manages to freeze the tanks that he passes through. They fall to the ground, immobile. The rest of the tanks keep firing in his direction. Below Ben, most of the people are staring at the sight of the tanks seemingly firing at a phantom.

"Get your rifles out!" some Knight with a heavy British accent shouts. All the workers in sight run in groups to lockers scattered throughout the building and pull out futuristic guns.

_They have certainly upgraded, _Ben thinks to himself. He flies down towards the door and finds it locked - naturally. _Time for a form change! _Ben mentally declares.

"Omnitrix," Ben says out loud to activate the listening mode of the device. "Diamondhead!"

The invisible form momentarily becomes seen before is it engulfed in green light. His body is altered, changing from organic to crystal. Those near him panic and run several feet away. They keep shooting their lasers, but it's futile. Diamondhead's crystalline composition means the laser beams will go right through him, regardless of their strength.

"Back off!" Ben warns the Knights and tanks, but they won't relent. So he forms his right hand into a large mallet, much like Kevin does. He starts swinging at the people and smashing at the tanks. The first person to be struck gets hit right in the ribs, and Ben can feel several of them break under the immense pressure. The Knight screams in agony and flies back at least thirty feet, before slamming into the ground.

The tanks surround Ben, firing like crazy. They move in a circular motion around him, staying mobile at all times. Ben tries to bring down his mallet on the ones in front of him but they escape, some even driving up and on others. Too many for Ben to handle.

He runs over to the door and shouts, "Stand back! The door's opening and there's lots of fire!" Ben brings his arm back and with one massive strike attempts to force the large doors open... but it only causes a huge dent.

"What kind of metal is that!" Ben says to himself, amazed that anything could withstand a pound from Diamondhead. The laser shots continue at him but he ignores them and gives another big swing. This time the entrance opens to the dark and the two other combatants can get involved.

"About time!" Gwen remarks as she brings up the magical energy around her hands. She sees the thousands of robotic tanks and hundreds of warriors. If she were to use her basic Anodite powers, which she has relied on for years, it still wouldn't be enough to ensure any chance of victory. So Gwen decides right then and there to step it up a notch.

Gwen encapsulates herself in a shield of life-force and begins to cast one of her spells. Then, to alert Ben and Kevin of what she is doing, she shouts out the English name she has chosen for it: "Partial revelation one, open!"

Kevin, having taken upon a skin of the metal which Diamondhead had trouble smashing, steps back. She has been able to do this for two years, and still it both startles and amazes him. He smacks a couple of the tanks while half-watching Gwen.

Air begins to rush around her in the shell. Her long hair seems to float of its own accord, and then separates into five long locks in a star formation. Gwen's eyes begin to glow as a powerful, if minor, fraction of her Anodite power seeps into her body. The locks of hair begin to glow in the pink of her magical energy and flutters as though in a gentle breeze. The energy shield shrinks until it completely covers her body like a tight-fitting garment. "Partial revelation complete!"


	5. End of Gwendolyn Part 2

**In the last part of the chapter, Ben discovered what the Forever Knights were up to. Our heroes have advanced in their skills, but so have the Forever Knights and now they're caught in the middle of a battle.**

**Disclaimer: "Ben 10: Alien Force" is copyrighted to Man of Action. I only use their characters for this fan fiction. Do I really need to keep saying this?**

**Also, I'm not usually one to do what everyone else does, but I look at my review count... 4. Hey if you have an opinion of how this story is going, please let me know. Thanks!**

Chapter 4: End of Gwendolyn  
Kevin, having taken upon a skin of the metal which Diamondhead had trouble smashing, steps back. She has been able to do this for two years, and still it both startles and amazes him. He smacks a couple of the tanks while half-watching Gwen.

Air begins to rush around her in the shell. Her long hair seems to float of its own accord, and then separates into five long locks in a star formation. Gwen's eyes begin to glow as a powerful, if minor, fraction of her Anodite power seeps into her body. The locks of hair begin to glow in the pink of her magical energy and flutters as though in a gentle breeze. The energy shield shrinks until it completely covers her body like a tight-fitting garment. "Partial revelation complete!"

Ben sees his cousin in this powerful form and almost squeals because he knows what havoc she is about to unleash. He and Kevin continue to swing and miss half of the time, but Gwen's finely-tuned control of energy enables her to move her hand at the targeted tanks and render them inert. Laser blasts fail to permeate her energetic shell.

"We gotta get to the weapon!" Ben says. He starts hopping over the tanks and towards the construct. Another Forever Knight official presses a button on his wrist. The next thing Ben knows, his right arm has just been blown off. And then his left leg. The Diamondhead form falls to the ground. He tries to regenerate but the ability is limited.

"Ben!" Gwen shouts, alerted to her cousin's predicament. The missiles start pelting her, too. They essentially sizzle and evaporate when they impact her. It's so sudden, unexpected even by the Forever Knights. In a second Kevin is being struck from each side. The missiles are made of an even tougher material and blast off sections of Kevin's metallic skin. "Kevin, get out of harm's way!" she shouts to him, and then uses her telekinesis to fling him into a protected corner. Then she puts an energy barrier around her cousin and continues to immobilize the endless fleet of tanks driving around her, firing their lasers. The missiles bounce off the shield.

"Ben, you need a new form!" she alerts him.

"I hadn't noticed!" Ben retorts with irritation at his problem. After a moment's deliberation, he decides who the next form should be. "Omnitrix, Swampfire!"

He expects the crystal form to become a living swamp. He expects that his two limbs will regenerate quickly when he makes his transformation. Instead, in the worst possible moment, the Omnitrix glitches - _again_ - he does not become Swampfire. No, he shrinks to a smaller size and can tell he is anything but organic. The transformation completes.

"Echo Echo?" Gwen shouts to him. "What good can that do?"

"We're about to find out," Ben says. He makes four copies of himself and puts them in a star formation. "On my count, drop the barrier! Three! Two! One! Now!"

The energy shield goes down and the clones let out a loud, nearly supersonic scream. It is so powerful that the workers drop their weapons and cover their ears while at the same time being flung back. Tanks are also repelled, but they simply aim their turrets at the two largest threats and continue to fire. The superweapon's supports are overpowered, and the device groans as it falls on the ground.

After thirty consecutive seconds of the screaming, Ben and Gwen are the only two people still near the entrance. Everyone and everything else has been deflected. Missile continue to approach them but cannot hit.

"Keep going!" Gwen shouts at the top of her lungs. In her advanced form she can handle the incredible pressure. "I'll go after the weapon!" She runs towards the device and looks over its controls.

One of the Echo Echo clones stops and shouts to her, "My clones are running out of breath! I don't know how long we can keep this up!"

Everyone is then taken by surprise when one of the Forever Knights, formerly pinned to the wall by the talking Echo Echo clone, gives an evil laugh and presses a button on his wrist. Kevin, who has been standing in a corner the entire time watching his comrades, watches in horror as the ring around the device's center lights up, with Gwen right there.

"Gwen, get away from it!" he calls out to her.

Too late. It starts up running. Suddenly, the weapon's metal hull becomes electrically charged, so much that it bypasses Gwen's protective energy. Her whole body starts convulsing as electricity runs through her body. But she can't get her hands off the device. Gwen tries to pull herself away but is paralyzed by the pain. She tries to shout "Help me!" but all she can do is scream groans of agony.

Lasers and missiles continue to attack the two of them from all angles. Ben makes a bold attempt at transformation. "Omnitrix, Swampfire!"

As Ben begins to transform, the device forms a sort of gravity around it. Gwen's locks of hair move as if they're being pulled by someone inside the construct. More of her energy starts to extrude through her eyes, nose and mouth. Her energy shield begins to distort and stretch like a rubber band, attracted towards the weapon.

Ben comes out of the green light as Swampfire, but has no time to celebrate. He runs over to his cousin, a football field's length away. Lasers and missiles shoot right through him, and he regenerates instantly.  
Gwen feels the energy around her slip away but is unable to replenish it. Before Ben can get to her, her back is completely vulnerable - and that's all it takes.  
Ben watches in horror as laser and missile relentlessly take aim at her back, shredding it. She begins to bleed. Then her attempts at screaming stop. Her knees buckle and her eyes close. She falls to the ground, still twitching intermittently.  
"Gwen!" Kevin shouts at the top of his lungs, fearing the worst. He comes out of his hiding spot and starts running towards her, doing his best to smash and dodge the opposing forces. His metal skin flies off in shards.  
Ben starts running towards him. "We need to get out of here!"  
"No! I am not going without Gwen!"  
Ben glances at her. The tanks have yet to cease shooting at her... and by now she has been shot so many times...  
"It's too late!" Ben struggles to say. "We need to leave!"  
"NO!" Kevin screams. He tries to run to her but Ben grabs him with vines and flings him out of the factory, and then joins him outside.  
"What are you doing?" Kevin protests. "We need to get - "  
Ben realizes that Kevin isn't going to give up so he causes the vines to wrap around Kevin, making it impossible for him to move. He picks up his immobilized teammate and throws him in the back seat of the car.  
"What do you think you're doing!" Kevin continues. The door slams.  
Ben opens the driver's seat and forms his finger into a replica of the car key. He puts it in the slot and turns on the engine.  
"You are not driving my car!"  
"Kevin, shut up! I have a license." He speeds off away from the factory, leaving the battle - and Gwen.


	6. Empty Hearts Part 1

**In the previous chapter, we saw the unexpected death of Gwen. Ben and Kevin got out as fast as they could, and didn't have the time to try to save her.**

**I want to let everybody know this right now. There seems to be some disdain for stories in which characters die, so I've decided that this may be the only one of the sort. I made this because I wanted to reveal the mortality of the characters, something that the show often fails to present.**

**Disclaimer: You know.**

Chapter 5: Empty Hearts

Ben, already reverted back to human, jumps out of the driver's seat, runs into his house and into his bedroom. His parents are most likely watching TV in their bedroom. He hears a liberated Kevin angrily drive off, but doesn't care.

His knees give out before he can fully collapse onto his bed, and Ben begins to cry bitterly over the loss. "Gwen. No. Why?" are the only three words he can mumble out in his confused and depressed state. _It wasn't even ten minutes we were in there!_ he thinks to himself. _Not even long enough for the Omnitrix to lose power - even after four transformations!_ The cries become more intense. His annoying redhead cousin that turned into the smartest person he'd ever know... all of that growth and potential... destroyed by madmen following their delusion.

_No,_ he pleads. _She can't be dead. Maybe she turned Anodite and escaped. Something! How could someone with that much power just die like that? She was a superhero for seven years - it can't end like that!_

After a few hours of tears, the grief has lightened just enough that he can function again. Ben grabs clean clothes and showers. In this state of mind he leans against the shower's wall, unable to keep himself standing for that long. Then to bed, where tears soak his pillow until he cries himself to sleep.

7:15 AM. Ben wakes up and almost knocks the alarm clock to the ground, cursing it. He apathetically readies for the school day and uses Jetray to fly to school.

He doesn't stand outside for Julie like he usually does. Instead, he wanders the hallways, trying to bring peace to his tumultuous mind. Finally, Julie catches up to him on the third floor.

"Ben, what's wrong?"

He looks in her eyes. Normally that alone would be of great relief for him, but not today. "Um... something... terrible happened last night."

She looks at him quizzically. "What was it?"

"Well... we were fighting the Forever Knights, trying to stop them," Ben pauses and puts his fist to his mouth. After a moment he removes it and continues. "Gwen... she was in one of her most powerful forms... we should have won but... something went wrong - "

"Ben, you're babbling," Julie stops him. "You don't babble. Something is wrong. What is it?"

He says it as quickly as he can, each word acid on his tongue. "Julie, Gwen is dead."

She steps back as though she were struck by Humungousaur. "What?"

Ben simply nods.

Now Julie's eyes begin to water. "How? How could this happen?"

"They found a weak spot and shot her repeatedly." Ben's voice cracks. "Even when she was dead, they didn't stop."

Julie rests on the wall and puts her hand to her face. "Ben, I'm so sorry. This is terrible." She too joins him in silent weeping. And this they do until it's time to go to their lockers.

Ben pays less attention to the teacher's talking than he usually does, and doesn't care if he gets in trouble or not. Fortunately, he is able to keep himself collected for the first half of the day. Then in lunchtime, he and Julie sit together again, barely eating the food in front of them. A couple of his fans notice he's down, but the rest are clearly oblivious to their sadness.

"How'd it go, hero?" one of them asks.

"Can you tell us the war story?" another probes.

Ben gives them both a steely gaze. "Go away."

"What happened? Did you lose?"

"I said, go away!"

The other fan realizes that something is amiss and tries to be compassionate. "Are you OK? If something is wrong - "

"I said GO AWAY!" Ben explodes, standing up and smacking his fist on the table. Everyone around them goes silent and stares.

Julie looks at him with a puzzled look. This is not normal for Ben, even under these kinds of stressful conditions.

The blue eyes of the inquiring student widen with shock. "OK dude." He and a couple other scared teenagers take their trays and move to a far table.

Ben sees the fool he has made of himself and storms out of the lunchroom. None of the close teachers make an effort to stop him. For the rest of the school day he sits in the back of the classrooms, not wanting anyone's attention. Upon reaching home, he pulls out his cell phone and calls Kevin's. He doesn't really know why, but it just seems like the right thing to do. But he doesn't get a reply. An hour later, he tries again. Still nothing. _What is going on with him? _Ben mentally groans.

He tells his parents he'll be back in a few minutes and walks to the garage. Kevin is not there and neither is the car. Ben puts a hand to his face and shakes his head. He grabs a chair - the one that Gwen sat in - and sits there, thinking that Kevin will return soon.

This garage is part of the same building where Ben's foolishness damaged the Omnitrix. That actual room is just on the other side of the wall. And then there are a few rooms that Kevin doesn't allow anyone to enter. Maybe that's part of why Gwen and Kevin had such trouble in their relationship - he kept so much of himself out of reach. Never discussed the Null Void, ever. Vague in most of everything else about his early years.

A half hour passes and Kevin doesn't show. Ben grows weary of waiting and heads back home.

When he walks in the door, his father calls his name. Ben steps into the living room. "Yeah, Dad?"

"Gwen's parents just called. They haven't seen her all day. Her school said she hadn't shown up. Do you know where she is?"

"No, I have no clue."

"Were you guys having another one of your alien fighting escapades again? You know how we feel about that."

_Don't remind me._ "Yeah, we were."

Carl leans forward on the couch. "If you think something bad has happened to Gwen, you need to tell us everything you know."

_How am I supposed to tell them this?_ Ben screams in his brain. He sighs and says, "I think Gwen might be dead."

His parents' eyes' widen. "Sit down and tell us everything," his father says seriously.

Ben begins telling them, starting with the visit from Agent Grebe all the way up to the last time he's seen Gwen.

After Ben finishes, his parents remain silent for a couple minutes. Then his mother asks, "What should we do? Call the police?"

Ben gives a sarcastic chuckle. "Right, and tell them what? Oh, my cousin who is half-alien was killed by futuristic medieval knights building a weapon to destroy a race of dragons? They'll believe that."

"We should call Max," his father whispers to Sandra.

"Here, you can use my Plumber's badge," Ben says while taking the device out of his pocket.

Ben's dad looks at the badge and slowly shakes his head.

"Oh, right, you don't know how to use this. Badge, call Grandpa."

The device displays a hologram of a dot spinning around in a circle as it processes. Then the dot turns black and blinks in place, then is replaced by Max's head.

"Hey Ben," Max greets. "How are you doing?"

"Good, I guess. Dad needs to talk to you."

Ben hands the badge over to his father, who tells Max what happened. Max frowns deeply and has the badge returned to Ben.

"You're telling me you attacked a Forever Knights outpost outnumbered 250 to 1?" Max scolds Ben.

"I thought I could take them. Besides, I had Gwen and Kev - "

"I don't care who you had with you, you should have assessed the risks!"

"Yelling at me won't do any good," Ben replies bitterly.

Max sighs. "Alright. So what do you need me to do?"

"Get the people higher up to look into the situation. That's about all that _can_ be done."

"I don't know. That could be tough. The Vulpin Civil War - the planet where you get your Wildmutt and Cannonbolt forms - just recently ended and I'm stationed here for the next few months. I can try to do something."

"Alright, thanks. I guess."

They end the connection and Ben returns the badge to his pocket.

"Ben," Carl begins. "If you feel like you need to stay home for the next couple days to get over this, we're alright with it."

Sandra nods in agreement.

Ben makes a small smile, the best he can force out, and walks back into his bedroom.


	7. Empty Hearts Part 2

**Last chapter, we saw Ben confess to Julie and his parents what happened that fateful night.**

**Alright, I'm stepping out of the story a bit for this: my take on "Above and Beyond". If you haven't seen this episode yet, don't read the rest of this paragraph. Anyway, I found it very refreshing to finally see a new episode. A lot of the previous ones, especially since "Ghost Town" aired, have been really cliché and formulaic. And that aired in November for me – 4 months ago!Everything would go all wrong and then _bam!_ Right in the last few minutes of the show everything would be resolved. And yes, the rescue at the last minute issue happened in "Above and Beyond", but the rest of the episode more than made up for it. Seeing Ben act like that was awesome, and I've seen plenty of fanfics where Ben goes evil as he did in that episodes. I give it a 9/10.**

**Now, on to the story!**

For the rest of the day he sits in his bedroom, aimlessly moving from TV to computer and back, mourning and not caring to notice anything. He tries to sleep but his mind races with the images of what happened in the battle. It's not until nearly dawn that he does finally get a few hours of rest.

After some time of lazily watching the television, catching up on the rest of the show he missed a few days earlier, Ben sends Kevin another text message but doesn't expect a response.

_I don't care_, Ben thinks to himself. _I don't want to talk to anyone anyway._

Then, as though she knows his every thought, Julie's number shows up on the computer. He ignores the first few rings, but after the fourth he decides that she is one of the few who he can confide in. Ben turns on his webcam and click a button. Julie's head and neck appear in a small window, which Ben sets to full screen and puts on the headset.

"Hi Ben," Julie opens, clearly concerned. She refrains from pointing out the obvious fact that she hasn't heard from him in over a day. "How you feeling?"

"Great, just great," Ben mutters into the microphone.

Julie frowns. She has basic human compassion, but she's no counselor. Of course, Ben has never been in this kind of depression around her. "I understand how you feel."

"No you don't," Ben replies, marginally louder than his last statement. "This is my cousin. Not just any cousin, a cousin who has saved my life more times than I've saved hers."

A minute of silence passes. Ben watches Julie's gaze shift uncomfortably from his green eyes to a text message, and then to a corner of the screen, as though she were surfing the web. Finally she looks at him again and says, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

Julie sighs. "OK then. Well, when you're ready, you have my number." She makes a kissy face, trying to help him feel better. It doesn't work. "I love you."

"I love you too." He presses another button, turns off his computer, and weeps a little more.

That afternoon, Ben is alerted that an investigator will be stopping by his house the next morning to question him about Gwen's death. He doesn't sleep much, like last night, and has to be woken by his mother when the man arrives.

Ben puts on a fresh t-shirt and jeans and walks into the living room. The investigator is burly, neatly dressed and has only a crescent of hair left going around the back of his head, although it retains the brown of his younger years. He smiles at Ben, maintaining his formality. "Hello young man, you're Ben, correct?"

"Yes," Ben says as he sits on a chair.

"My name is Investigator Joseph. I'm just going to ask a few questions. It shouldn't take too long." He pulls out a pad of paper. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen," Ben responds.

"Date of birth?"

"March 14, 1994."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"No."

"Alright," Investigator Joseph looks up from the pocketbook and addressed Ben directly. "So tell me, what do you remember about the last time you were with Gwen."

Ben gulps. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Ben tells the investigator.

The man chuckles lightly. "Young man, I've been doing this for thirty-six years. I've heard a lot of people tell me that, and most of the time their stories were true. Reality can be stranger than fiction."

"Alright," Ben says. He makes the story as clear as he can. "Me, Gwen and her boyfriend were at the old factory just outside of Ashford, where a coalition of medieval knights and renegade aliens were building a weapon to destroy a race of dragons. We started to fight against them, but while trying to find a way to destroy the weapon Gwen was repeatedly shot by knee-high tanks and lasers."

The older man maintains his formal expression, although Ben knows he doesn't believe the words.

When the questioning ends, Ben returns to his bedroom and continues to be alone. He doesn't want anyone around him. He wants his time alone. Through the rest of the week and into the weekend, everything seems to blur together. On the next Monday his mother asks him if he wants to return to school. His reply: "I couldn't care less about school."

Still, he finds that the wall of his bedroom are too closed in on him so he decides to head down to the garage, see if Kevin is there. Ben brings up the form of Big Chill, turns invisible, and spends some time walking and some time flying.

At the seemingly abandoned building, the light is on in the hangar. Ben looks in.

Kevin is there, working on his car, like always. Only this time, his has an array of alien weapons all in arm's reach.

Ben reverts to his human form. The flash of light startles Kevin, who swiftly gets up off the ground, grabs one of the larger alien guns and aims it at Ben. "What do you want, Tennyson?"

"I don't know," Ben replies. "You weren't answering any of my texts -"

"Is there a reason I would have to?"

Ben is irritated by this. "Look, I just wanted to see -"

"I've been busy."

Ben glances at the weaponry, and other odd assorted items. "Trading on the black market again?"

"Yeah," Kevin says defensively. "Ain't like I got Gwen to try to stop me." Kevin's expression changes suddenly to one more fierce. "And I ain't got Gwen stopping me from killing you."

"OK, what is your problem?" Ben asks, frustrated.

"You are my problem. These last three years, Gwen was the only one who stopped me from killing you. And do you know how many times you pissed me off so much that I wanted to rip you apart, limb by limb? But every time I felt that way, Gwen was the only one who talked me out of it. With her around, I actually _forgot_ that you threw me in the Null Void. I actually _forgot_ all the years that you took from me. I almost actually liked you. But guess what? She's not here anymore. There's nothing stopping me from wringing your neck like a sponge."

Ben's hands turn into fists.

"I tell you what. The only reason I don't kill you right now is because I'm restraining myself for Gwen's sake. Get out of here while I'm still nice enough to do so."

Ben's fists are shaking. He turns around and starts to walk away.

"But," Kevin adds louder, almost maniacally, "You better watch your back. If I ever see you again, I won't be so merciful."


	8. Finding Solace and the Plan Part 1

**Please forgive the lateness in updating this. I've been negligent in continuing the story due to writer's block and lack of ideas. But a couple days ago I managed to get more inspiration. Here is what I have so far.**

**Review of "Vendetta": Another good break from the cliché series of previous episodes, with one major problem. The ending was horrible. **_**Kevin should have died!!!**_** He got sucked into outer space and maybe even a vortex. There was no sign of an escape pod being anywhere near him and yet somehow he just walked up from the bushes as though nothing happened. It could have been a lot better.**

Chapter 6: Finding Solace and the Plan

On the last Tuesday before graduation, Ben gathers the strength to return to school. Using the Omnitrix for the first time since the fateful battle, he flies as Big Chill to just outside of view, then as his normal self stands in front of the building and watches the vehicles pass him in the early morning light.

He waits patiently for one certain gray van to stop at the corner. Before it even stops, Julie opens the door and hops out, running towards her boyfriend. They hug and kiss, and hold on to each other for a couple more minutes. Julie's mother waves goodbye to them and drives off to start her work day.

"I missed you," Julie says.

"I missed you too."

Since there's no tennis practice, there's no reason for Julie to leave. And since there hasn't been homework, Ben has no bookbag to put in the locker. They spend most of the morning together with their combined clique of friends before splitting for homeroom.

Ben enters the classroom and the people inside practically stand up to greet him. "Glad to see you're back, Ben," says the homeroom teacher. Ben halfheartedly nods and sits in his usual chair.

Everything is fine as Ben enters his first period class. It doesn't take more than a couple minutes before he joins the rest of the class in daydreaming. It starts off with Julie, about how awesome she is and stuff. Then his mind goes back to the battle. His face makes a clear frown and he leans forward on his desk.

_What if I had done something different? _Ben wonders. _Like, instead of trying to run towards Gwen, I shot seeds at her or something. Something to stop what was going to happen. Maybe if I had Kevin with me at the time..._

Ben begins to tap his fingers on his desk impatiently, upset about this realization. _There must have been something I could have done!_

The kids around him see their hero getting frustrated over seemingly nothing and shift their bodies away from him lest they be in range of another explosive outburst.

It sticks with him through the day. In lunch, he and Julie sit at their usual table, the amount of others with them greatly reduced. Only a couple diehard fans remain with them. They don't understand how their icon has suddenly become so strange.

"Ben, what is wrong?" Julie asks her boyfriend.

"I've been thinking," Ben replies, pausing to gather his thoughts in a way that can be spoken. "How do I know she's dead?" He knows the others probably won't hear him. Even if they do, he doesn't care if they understand or not. "You know how she is – what she is. There must be some way she got out of there in time."

Julie conceals a frown. "Like what? You know what you saw."

"Maybe she went Anodite or something. She has surprised us before. She's had years to master her skills. She could have done something none of us knew about."

"Ben, that's wishful thinking."

_The way she said that reminds me of Gwen._ "Yeah, you're right. Wishful thinking."

This "wishful thinking" continues on past lunch. While his English class has a half-interested discussion on Shakespeare, Ben pulls out a paper and starts writing ideas and plans on it. His teacher takes notice.

"Mister Tennyson," the teacher says wit an accent all too similar to a Forever Knight's, "Even the hero of the universe needs to pass a final exam to graduate. Now kindly attempt to participate."

Ben puts away the paper until the next class begins, when he resumes his calculations undisturbed. One of his more diligent fans is in that class. She takes an audacious step and moves toward Ben to see what he's doing. Ben glances at her but doesn't say anything.

Last period. Announcements come on and the bell rings. _Finally!_ Ben mentally exclaims. He exits the building, paper still in hand, and begins to walk off to a secluded for this transformation. When he sees Julie, though, another idea arises.

He walks over to her and is greeted with a wide grin. "I have something I need to talk to you with. It's about Gwen. Mind if I hitch a ride with you?"

"No problem." Julie's mother shows up and doesn't have a problem with Ben joining them. At the house, Ben and Julie go upstairs and into her bedroom, where Julie takes a seat on her bed and Ben shows her the paper he's been working on.

After reading through it for a couple minutes, Julie is definitely confused. "What is all of this?"

"To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent sure Gwen is dead. I mean, she's half-alien, magical, all that. She's the kind of person that would have a backup plan if things went terribly wrong."

Julie looks at him and then sighs. "Ben, sit down," she says while patting her bed. "Relax."

Ben does so and feels the cloud-like softness under him.

"Benji, you have to accept that she's dead. I know how hard it is to lose someone. But you can't ignore reality."

Ben gives an exasperated sigh. "There has to be something. Maybe she turned Anodite when we weren't looking and is still waiting for us to find her. Or maybe that wasn't the real Gwen but a copy she made out of mana. Maybe she wasn't even killed. What if she's still alive, but because of her injuries she can't move her body?"

Julie puts her hand to her face, unsure how to react to this. Then Ship crawls out from under her bed and jumps up on her lap expecting to be pet. When she does begin to pet him, Ship begins purring. She looks at the paper a little more and sees something about a plan. "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stop them and get revenge for Gwen." He points at a square-shaped area of text in the lower left corner of the paper, which briefly outlines his idea. "I'll attack them as Swampfire or Goop or Chromastone and knock out as many of them as I can. Then I'll turn into Way Big and grab their weapon and jump as fast as I can until I'm in space. Then I'll throw it as hard as I can so it'll crash into the sun and be destroyed. After that, I'll turn into Big Chill and fly back home."

Julie is awestruck by the plan, but not because of its ingenuity. "Do you realize how many ways that could go wrong? The Omnitrix has been really unreliable and you know that. What if it times out when you're fighting or in space? And how do you know you'll get the forms you want?"

"Well, um, see that's where I was hoping I could use Ship -"

She wraps her arms lovingly around Ship as a defense. "He's a pet, not a weapon."

"I know that, but this is important. He doesn't have to be in the fight or anything, just help me fly the weapon out to the sun so I don't have to turn into Way Big or Big Chill and risk all that."

Ship tries to snuggle with Ben but notices his negative mood. The symbiote makes a depressed sound and curls up behind Julie.


	9. Finding Solace and the Plan Part 2

**I have completed the rough draft of this story, so I will be doing some editing to make it better. I seriously ran out of steam, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. Until then, here is the latest installment to hold ya'll over.**

"**Fame" was an excellent episode. It ended the predictability that season 3 of Alien Force had. The opening credits scene is awesome. Now I know I'm a Ben 10 fanatic. I was able to name almost all of the aliens shown, and upon watching it on YouTube, I noticed the first and last aliens shown (I had missed them the last few times): XLR8 to begin, and Benvicktor to finish.**

"I don't know, Ben. After he got hurt trying to rescue that trader a few months ago, I've been uncomfortable with using Ship like that."

Ben barely masks a frown.

Julie decides that there needs to be a change in subject. "How about we take Ship in the backyard and play tennis or something?" She sets the paper on her bed and stands up. "C'mon."

Ben follows her out in the backyard, Ship right behind him. They spend a little time practicing tennis before Ship intervenes and starts to chase the ball. Eventually Julie's parents invite Ben for dinner, which he agrees to stay for. After that, he grabs the paper and heads home.

Everything is about the same in school the next day. The piece of paper gets used up completely, leaving Ben no further than he was yesterday and still just as distracted. Just before sixth period, his badge goes off in the middle of the hallway. Students around him stop and stare, but he rushes into the bathroom to get some privacy. Some follow him in, but he ignores them.

Ben pushes a button on the badge and the panicked face of Agent Grebe appears.

"To anyone who can hear me, this is Agent Nolan Grebe. I am under siege by the Forever Knight and Highbreed coalition. My coordinates have been sent with this message -" Grebe is interrupted by the sound of a weapon blast near him. "Please come quickly!"

Ben races out of the bathroom and sees one of his classmates. "James! Tell Mr. Ritter that I'm out fighting aliens and yes, the world is at stake."

"Got it," James says as Ben runs towards the exit. Outside he takes on the form of Jetray and flies out into the desert nearby until a seemingly unused storage building appears. Once there, he looks inside the windows and sees that the tanks and missiles of the last encounter aren't there.

Inside, more sights that baffle him. Besides the Forever Knights talking to Highbreed while DNAliens load trucks, futuristic-looking vehicles are appearing out of thin air every minute or two, either unloading boxes or being filled with them and then driving right through a wall.

Ben looks at the faces of the Forever Knights. They're familiar, too familiar. They are the same ones from the battle where Gwen was lost. This infuriates him. Ben blasts through the windows and turns back to normal in the middle of the building. Everyone around him freezes in place and looks on, not sure what to do.

"Where is Gwen!" he demands to know. "You monsters, what have you done to her?"

"Tennyson!" a voice behind him calls out. Instinctively Ben spins to face the source while readying the Omnitrix for use. It is the Knight who spoke last time.

"Where is Gwen!" Ben shouts again, fists curled tightly.

The Forever Knight looks puzzled for a moment then remembers the name. "She is dead. How sad that you can't accept that."

"What have you done to her?"

The Knight begins tapping his hand with his rifle, which is held by the other hand. "Incinerated. What use do we have with dead corpses." Then he adds with fake compassion. "Such a shame, really. My techs were able to rebuild her phone, and one of the last messages was her boyfriend trying to make up for his stupidity."

_Incinerated? No! _"You killed her!"

"She barged in on our property."

Ben puts his hands to his head. _No. She can't be._

"Face it, Tennyson. She is dead, and you are no match for us."

An unnatural adrenaline rush screams through Ben's body and any remorse left converts to pure anger. With a voice rasping from fatigue he screams "Dead? Then so are you!"

Ben selects Humungousaur and slams on the Omnitrix. It glitches and instead turns Ben into something like a tiger without a tail and an impulsive need to hit anything that moves – Rath.

"Let me tell you something Forever Knights! I'm going to get my revenge for what you did!" Ben begins running towards the Knight at full speed. The Knight starts shooting his energy weapon at Ben but it has no effect.

"Fire at -" the Knight says. Ben tackles the man to the ground and throws him into a crowd of DNAliens.

Two Knights in full armor draw their rifles and begin firing at Ben, which only functions to anger him more. Their weapons are useless against the unique skin of an Appoplexian. Ben gives out an angry yell and rushes toward the men. One of them gets ready to swing his weapon like a club. Ben grabs both of them by their helmeted heads and squeezes, pressing down on their skulls. Whatever metal the armor is made of begins to collapse under Ben's grip, causing the wearers to shout in agony and drop their rifles. Ben lifts both of them and throws them across the building

Three more Knights, who had been standing with the three Highbreed, draw their weapons but do not fire.

"What are you doing here!" Ben demands to know.

"Stand down Tennyson," one of them replies.

"I'm going to kick all of your butts! You must pay for what you've done!" Ben runs towards them and extends the black claw on each of his hands. The Knights push a button on their weapons and aim at Ben. The hold down the trigger for a moment and the barrels glow red. When they release Ben is only a few feet away.

The weapons release rapid blasts of energy which are strong enough to knock Ben off balance. However he doesn't lose his footing and uses his left arm to knock the rifles out of their hands with one swing. Then with his right arm he strikes the nearest Knight with the back of his hand, causing the soldier to fall to the ground, a deep gash on his right cheek where the claw had sliced.

Ben turns his attention to the other two, who begin running toward the Highbreed renegades. One of the Highbreed, which looks like its DNA had been combined with Ectonurite genetics, calls to the DNAliens to begin firing their goo at Ben. They drop their boxes and move to surround Ben.

A second renegade, with Transylian genes, steps forward to combat Ben. It reaches its long hands down towards him, grips Ben by the shoulders and starts to push electricity through Ben's system.

Already out of control, Ben finds himself in the same situation that killed Gwen. In fear of dying like she did, Ben extends his arms to where the Highbreed's elbows are and impales his claws into its skin. The enemy shrieks in pain and Ben pulls his claws directly down and through the Highbreed's skin. Blue blood drips out of the arms and off Ben's claws. Ben shakes off his hands and kicks the enemy, sending it into a stack of crates.

Immediately he turns to his right and lurches for the first Highbreed. It renders itself intangible and Ben steps right through it. _It has Ghostfreak's powers?_ Ben wonders to himself.

"What are you? A wuss?" Ben furiously taunts. "Why don't you try letting me hit you, see how tough you are!"

The opponent returns to normal and chuckles. "Pathetic," it bellows and goes to reach for Ben like the previous one. This time, Ben is prepared and grabs both of the arms by the wrists. He begins to spin the alien around and flings it into the air. It smashes through one of the high windows and outdoors.

Ben looks for the remaining Highbreed. It's gone. Just a horde of DNAliens and one of the Knights.

The DNAliens have now formed a circle around Ben. All at once, they shoot their goo towards Ben. It sticks to him but has no other effect. They are essentially helpless against him, since their only form of offense is worthless.

_This takes too long!_ "Omnitrix," Ben says while standing still for a brief second. "I want Way Big, now!"

He feels himself transform again, this time into something much larger. In a flash, the roof of the building is partially destroyed as Ben's head goes through it. At 100 feet tall, all of the DNAliens look like little ants, which are suddenly quite fearful.

Ben swings his massive hand through the crowd of aliens and they're all knocked out and injured. All that remains is the Forever Knight, who is too scared to move. Ben picks up the man, puts him in his hand and lifts the fearful soldier up to his face. Each of Ben's eyes is larger than the man he holds.

"What are you doing here?" Ben demands again.

The man remains defiantly silent.

"Maybe you don't realize it but you're 100 feet in the air! I could throw you to the ground! Speak or else you'll need a replacement!"

"Alright! Alright!" the Knight gives in. "We're packing the last supplies to be send to the convoy for the singularity machine!"

"Singularity machine? The weapon to destroy the Draconoids?"

"Yes, yes that!"

"How long until it's finished?"

"Three days at most!"

"Where is Agent Grebe?"

"The spy was shipped away before you arrived!"

Ben drops the Knight to the ground. In utter anger he steps back and stomps on the building until it has been reduced to rubble. Whatever was in the warehouse, be it synthetic or living, has been thoroughly crushed, pummeled and destroyed. "Grebe can find his own way out," Ben mutters. He deactivates the Omnitrix and returns to human form. Seeing the death and destruction he has caused adds to how emotionally overwhelmed he is. Ben falls to the ground and starts to weep intensely.

Shortly thereafter, he gets up and starts walking back to home. Once the Omnitrix has sufficiently recharged, he assumes Big Chill's form and flies.

It's only 3:30 in the afternoon. School has let out. Ben doesn't want to go to his house. He stops in front of another familiar house and knocks on the door. While he waits for it to be opened, he leans onto the outer wall and closes his eyes, still exhausted from the battle and the emotional storm in him.

Julie opens her door. "Ben?"

At this he embraces Julie and starts to weep bitterly. Taken off-guard by this, Julie pats his back lightly and leads him into the living room and onto the couch, where he spends several minutes sobbing and sniffling.

"What happened, Ben?" she asks him.

His voice's pitch fluctuates has he responds. "I was just... in a fight with the ones... the ones who were at the factory. They killed her. They really killed her!" His cries intensify again. He can't deny it anymore. "They burned her up and took her phone."

Ben proceeds to go in detail about the battle over the course of the next few minutes. It's a viciousness totally unlike him.

"Oh my goodness," is all Julie can reply with.

After a half hour Ben has finally calmed down to the point where his breathing isn't stuttered by sobs and spasms. He lets go of Julie and leans back on the couch, his head looking towards the sky. "What's happening to me?" he mumbles. "Nothing seems right anymore."

"I don't know," Julie replies in an equally low volume. "I think you just need to rest and recover a little more." Then she puts her arm around Ben's shoulders, which makes him sigh a little. He rests his head on her soft shoulder. "My parents are going to be gone for the next three days on a business meeting. I got the house to myself."

Ben glances up toward her and smiles ever so slightly. "Cool."

"And," she pauses and pulls out a paper bill. "They left me one hundred dollars for myself."

Her boyfriend's smile widens.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

In a voice that's still fragile but optimistic he replies, "Smoothies and pizza?"

"Smoothies and pizza."

"Maybe later. I'm not really hungry right now."

"Alright."

Looking for some kind of distraction, they turn on the TV and watch one of their favorite mind-numbing reality shows. After that, a re-run of _Sumo Slammers: Hero Generation_ that makes Ben comment on the cliché ending.

Right as the ending credits roll up the screen, Ben's stomach begins to growl.

"Shall we?" Julie asks. She stands up, takes his hands and helps him to his feet. Then she gets the house keys and they go out the door and walk to their favorite restaurant. Outside, teenagers are sitting in their groups and chatting. Ben and Julie go indoors, where there are less people. They order their food and find a seat in a corner.

The relative silence leaves nothing to stop him from thinking of what has happened over the past couple weeks and he begins to stare out the window, more lost in thought and depression than anything else. His girlfriend notices this and pokes his shoulder.

"Ben? Helloooo, Earth to Ben."

He shakes his head and leaves the daydreams.

"You've barely touched your pizza and smoothie.

"Huh? Oh. Right." He takes a bite of the pepperoni pizza on his plate. Somehow, having food enter his stomach soothes him a little. It removes a bit of the numbness, which made him lose focus of just about everything except his pain and Julie, and brightens his countenance the slightest amount.

Julie sees this and smiles. "There, that's better. Eat up."

He makes a small chuckle at this mothering attitude. Ben takes a sip of the smoothie and the cool temperature feels good in his body, warm because of the struggles of the day.

In no rush to return home, the two casually finish their meals, grab more smoothies, and head outside where it is slightly more empty. Sunset is close and neither person has anything else to do. So they seat themselves on a long seat and simply relax in each others' presence as the sun dips below the horizon. After the sun is down, they walk back to Julie's house and settle in front of the television again, sipping on what remains of their drinks. Ben, still depressed, rests his head on Julie's shoulder, and she begins to rub it.

After a couple more half hour episodes of whatever, Julie gets up. "I'm going to take my shower. You going to be alright by yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"OK." She walks off to her bedroom and into the bathroom.

Ben shifts position so he is leaning forward and gazes at the Omnitrix. _Eight years_, he ponders. _Eight years I've been a superhero._ Ben shuns the word "superhero". He turns on and starts flicking through the aliens again. _I've experienced the forms of forty different aliens..._

Julie comes out of the shower a half hour later and sees him in a daze, studying the forms of his array. She sits next to him and turns the faceplate to Spidermonkey. "That's my favorite one."

Ben faces her and smiles. He notices her new clothing, a plain white t-shirt and baby blue sweatpants with unicorns on them. He shuts off the device and says, "I'm surprised those don't have tennis rackets on them."

Julie giggles at the comment. "Most would think they would but eh." She shrugs.

11 PM comes a few hours later and Ben still hasn't returned home. Usually Ben would be home before now. Then at midnight, his cell phone rings.

"Hello?" he answers.

"Ben, where are you?" his mother asks.

"At Julie's."

"Are you going to come home?"

He turns to Julie, sitting across from him at the table. They've struck up a board game to pass time. "You know what? I think I'll just stay the night."

"Well alright," his mother answers, slightly surprised at his unusual decision. "Be careful. See you tomorrow."

"Yep. Love you."

"Love you too."

"Staying the night?" Julie asks nonchalantly. "Where are you going to sleep?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. Probably the floor. I don't mind."

Julie yawns. "Well if we're going to be at school on time we better hit the hay. I won anyway."

"Let me take my turn at the shower and I'll be in."

"You don't think you're sleeping in my room, do you?"

"Why not? I'm not afraid of no cooties."

Julie facetiously rolls her eyes. "Alright. I'll throw you a pillow and a blanket."

They leave the game board where it is and go in separate directions. Ben showers off and hangs up his sweater, t-shirt and socks to air dry by the window. He still has on his boxers and shorts. Then he walks into her bedroom, sees how it's much neater than his, although slightly smaller, and makes himself comfortable on the floor.

"Goodnight," he says to her.

"Goodnight." She turns off the bedside lamp illuminating the bedroom and they drift to sleep.

The next morning they have breakfast and head off to school. There the students begin to comment on how it's time to start saying their goodbye's to each other – many already have plans to go to colleges in other states and move out. Such words make Ben think of Gwen, and how he never really had the chance to say goodbye to her, not even to a casket in a funeral. He goes back home that night and finds time to talk to Julie.

He gets the feeling of butterflies in his stomach as he considers the fact that tomorrow is his last day of high school. Or the last day of something, anyway.


	10. Only Human

**Last chapter: Ben faces the dark truth that Gwen is really dead, and ends up losing self-control.**

**This chapter will be posted at the same time as the final one, because my schedule is too full to be trying to remember to put up each new one.**

**Review of "Duped": I wanted Julie to slap Ben across the face so badly. And this episode proved the improbability of there ever being any Bevin in the show. Kevin: "You're always a little girly, but today you're freaking me out!"**

Chapter Seven: Only Human

Ben arrives to school at his usual time but does not see Julie show at her normal time. _She's probably walking or something._ He walks around the hallways and watches the building fill up. With it being the last day and whatnot, the rules have flown out the window. Everyone is texting openly on their cell phones, talking crap about teachers within their earshot, and wearing clothes so risque you'd think the school is the setting of an R-rated movie.

When the homeroom bell rings, not even half of the students are on time. Ben shoots a text message to Julie, asking if she is even going to show up. And then another one halfway through first period. In second period, when they're having a small party to celebrate graduation and the end of the year, he's too preoccupied with getting in touch with Julie to notice. After third period, he goes into the bathroom and calls first her cell phone and then her home phone. Nothing.

In lunch, he expects that she'll show up at the table, but even there she is absent. He begins to grow noticeably worried, tapping his fingers on his desk during the next few classes, not taking part in the bantering the rest of his classmates are doing.

The final bell of his high school life rings. While many of his cohorts cheer in excitement and throw their papers in the air and down the stairs, his main concern is getting to her house. People try to talk to him but he ignores them and hurries to the nearest bathroom, turns into Big Chill and flies to her home.

Instead of knocking on the door, he renders himself intangible and flies through the walls of each room.

"Julie!" he shouts. The place is totally empty. Inside her bedroom, however, is a note placed on her bed: CHECK YOUR E-MAIL TENNYSON

He reverts to human, turns on Julie's computer and enters his e-mail account. There is one new message. No title, and the sender's address is blank. Ben opens it. It reads:

WE HAVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND. RETURN TO THE FACTORY WHERE WE DEFEATED YOU BY SUNDOWN TONIGHT SO WE MAY ARREST YOU AND PUT YOU IN MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY, YOUR PRECIOUS JULIE WILL BE EXECUTED AND HER SYMBIOTE MADE TO DO OUR BIDDING. THE ORGANIZATION WILL HAVE VICTORY EITHER WAY.

He steps back from the computer. "No..." he mutters quietly. Then louder he shouts, "NO!"

Ben runs out the front door and turns into Jetray. He puts all of his strength into flying faster. In his desperation he breaks the sound barrier, leaving several booms behind him. A couple people on the ground see him only as a blur in the sky.

As soon as he reaches the building, he fires his laser at the windows, causing them to shatter. The little tanks and missile launchers are still there, but he is willing to take them on. Ben flies through the window and as he lands he transforms into Chromastone. He impacts the ground so strongly that not only does the cement underfoot crack and crumble, but the bottoms of his feet get small cracks and some pieces of crystal chip off.

Immediately the tanks begin to fire at him from every direction but he is prepared for that. As each laser pulse comes in, he absorbs it and stores the energy. The Forever Knights around him watch as what is supposed to be deadly seems to have no effect. After a couple minutes, the leader orders the people in control of the tanks to stop the attack. Although the tanks don't leave him, they cease firing.

"Where is Julie!" Ben demands.

"Ben get out of here!" she screams. He turns and sees her. Around each wrist and ankle is a thick blue ring that appears to be holding her in one posture. Her legs are straight down and her arms stretched out. Ship has put himself on her as a battle armor, trying to protect his owner. They both float five feet off the ground, against the wall. "They just want the Omnitrix!"

Ben doesn't have enough time to question what she says. A new type of energy beam strikes him from a dark corner. It is an extreme amount of energy and he has some trouble keeping it focused as he absorbs it. He attempts to get away from it by flying across the building but it keeps a perfect lock on him the entire time. Ben escapes it by hiding behind a pillar at just the right angle.

Several armored Knights are standing where he is. They begin to fire at him, but their energy weapons are useless against Chromastone. Ben shoots the energy at them, knocking them out two at a time.

As he aims his hand at the last one to fire, the Knight makes a rolling dive and barely escapes Ben's attack. He targets the pillar behind Ben and fires. A large hole is blasted into it.

The beam which Ben had been able to avoid has a clear path and begins to fire on Ben. This time it is angled in such a way that it goes almost completely through Ben's body, but it stops just far enough inside that it gets just inches away from the Omnitrix symbol. At that, Ben feels a powerfully sharp pain run down his body. He cringes and falls to his knees. The beam locks down on the Omnitrix symbol causing it to beep frantically.

Ben looks at his arms and hands. They glow green and he reverts to human form. Then they glow green and he's Chromastone again. And then his body glows and along with the pain he feels like he's in a transformation but not complete. He lowers his head and sees his body is now more shaped like a human's but still Chromastone.

He can hear Julie's screaming for him but it's not helping. His arms give out and he falls face first. A few pieces of crystal chip off of his chest. He forces himself to extend his arm, gasping and moaning in pain, toward a window. The energy now has an easier route to move through and it begins to shoot out the arm. The sheer power of the beam is strong enough that Ben's arm shakes and wobbles as he fights to keep it aimed properly.

Then it stops. The beam is cut off. Ben is freed from the sharp pains and lowers his hand. It's white hot and creates a sizzling sound when it touches the cement floor. He manages to get up on his knees with the good arm and sees the weapon.

_Oh no, the weapon! Why didn't I aim for the weapon?_

Julie's cry for Ben reminds him.

"Ship!" Ben shouts. "Turn into the space ship and get her out of here!"

"He can't!" Julie replies. "These rings won't let him."

Ben flies to where she is and begins to cut through the rings using unused energy. From behind him, barrages of lasers and rifle blasts strike his back, but it only helps to strengthen his cutting beams. An officer realizes this and angrily commands the bombardment to cease.

Julie is freed and Ship transforms into his starship form.

"I can help!" Julie says inside Ship.

"No, get out of here!"

Julie makes a worried frown. "OK. Come back home to me." She pilots Ship out a broken window and away from the combat.

Ben gazes around the room quickly, trying to figure out where the beam had come from. Instead he only sees the Knights standing there, staring at the deformed invader.

"Now you die!" a voice shouts.

The beam strikes again. This time, it hits perfectly on the Omnitrix. In a stinging pain of intensity Ben has never experienced, he is knocked to the ground and reverts to human form. The Omnitrix, its exterior charred by damage, beeps a few times and then disconnects itself from Ben's wrist and flies out of the building.

Small android tanks encircle him and aim.

Ben gasps and covers his face with his arms.

The tanks begin to fire their lasers, ripping through Ben's body. He can feel intense, channeled heat burn through him. Ben screams in agony as hundreds of shots blast through him every second. His eyes and ears are damaged enough that he goes blind and deaf. His hands and feet grow numb.

After a minute of the attack, Ben starts to have trouble getting oxygen into his body. His breaths turn into frantic gasps, his mouth wide open and his chest rising and dropping as high as much as he can get it. Yet his lungs and heart are so shot up that any effort will have marginal effect. He begins to lose consciousness.

_No, it can't end like this! _Ben is helpless, unable to stop the impending death that's coming on him. He fears his fate will be like Gwen's.

Before he passes out and the ability to feel, the heat stops. The tanks cease, thinking their victim to be dead. Then he has a new sensation, one familiar to him but totally impossible to occur at this moment. Where tissue and organ has been ripped through, movement begins. Ben's eyes start to reform and after a few seconds he can see again. And then his ears have been healed.

_I'm regenerating? Like Swampfire?_

Ben tilts his head to look at his body. No blood. Just little tendrils growing out of wounds, covering and restoring themselves. After a few more seconds he feels himself beginning to warm up. Somehow, the beam has mixed up Ben's DNA with Swampfire's.

Then the tanks detect his new found body heat and resume their assault. The terrible pain, the lose of senses and bodily control, the asphyxiation, it all returns again. Tears are dripping down his battered cheeks. When he is nearly dead, they silence their lasers and wait for further instructions. Ben once more regenerates, but fears what may happen next.

Once his body is warmed up, the robot tanks take it as a sign their victim lives. They destroy him again.

His body reaches the state of near-death again, this time even more painful than the last. Ben wishes he could stop regenerating and die. Instead his body goes against this desire and reforms itself, prompting the tanks to blast him again.

On the fifth regeneration, Ben desperately tries to move himself, but the muscles required just aren't there for moving. By the time he has them again, surely the tanks will send him to the brink once more.

Ben helplessly prepares to experience another cycle of torture.

"Enough!" a voice calls from outside of view.

The tanks become still. Right in place, some on top of others, all in a huge circle. Each is aimed for Ben but doesn't fire.

Slowly, trembling in fear and anticipation, Ben gets to his feet and stares at the massive amount of tanks surrounding him. Then he looks at the Knights standing near the walls.

"What do you want with me!" he shouts at them angrily. "You have me! Here! Arrest me!"

"We don't want to arrest you, Tennyson," the voice says again. Ben spins around and sees it's the Forever Knight commander, someone who Ben has a personal vendetta against. "You're too dangerous to even be alive."

"You scum!" Ben says and starts running towards the Knight. Right before he can throw his punch, the Knight's arms move faster than a normal human's can. He picks up Ben, pivots and slams him to the ground on his back. Ben moans in pain, feeling something else inside him break.

"Cybernetic enhancements, an excellent idea," the Knight remarks about how he was able to do what he just did. Then in all seriousness he points to a corner and says, "Bring out the MX-32."

Ben, almost on his feet now, watches as what appeared to have been just another part of the wall slide up like a garage door. Inside is a room just large enough for what steps out of it. The machine resembles a headless robot, nine feet tall with a row of huge lasers on each shoulder. It is sleek and shaped much like a human. Through a glass panel Ben can see inside the head and neck of the Knight operating the MX-32. A devious smile is on the operator's face.

The Forever Knight leader steps back to get out of the way of whatever is about to happen. "Don't toy with him; just kill him. He's too powerful to be given a chance."

Inside the MX-32, the operator presses a button. A deep thrumming emanates from it and eventually the sound becomes so loud the whole building is filled with it.

Ben realizes he is hopelessly outmatched and starts running for the door, running on top of and leaping over the tanks. They start to move away from Ben, clearing a wide path for him.

Suddenly a strong rush of wind strikes Ben from the side and a huge gray blur is seen. Ben lurches forward, off-balance, and puts his right leg ahead of his body to stop himself from falling. He looks up.

The MX-32 stands in front of Ben, blocking his way. Ben turns in the opposite direction and starts to run. Before Ben can get even a couple feet away, the machine's arm swings out and then in. It smashes into Ben's side, shatters ribs and bruises internal organs. The energy of the impact causes Ben to fly half way across the width of the building. He crashes into the brick wall, which chips and crumbles where Ben's body has struck it. Ben drops to the ground screaming in pain. He can't move anything.

Now another rush of wind, and the machine is standing over Ben. It picks up Ben and flings him across the building once again. Before Ben can hit the building, the MX-32's incredible speed has already situated it where Ben would be. Once he is in range, it swings its arm again and most of the force goes into Ben's back. He feels his spine become a mess of bones. He flies over the weapon and approaches the wall.

The machine is already there for him! It swings upwards and hit Ben on his other side, sending him flying into the air. Ben would scream, but the pain and damage is so extensive that he can't make any sound at all. Instead, a trail of tears follow his path. His body is contorting in directions it shouldn't, but does because his body has been thoroughly destroyed. It's amazing to him that he's still alive.

His enemy leaps up and arrives at the ceiling a split second before Ben. Before either can be pulled down by gravity, it smacks into Ben's already shattered waist and slams him into the ground. With Ben immobile and on laying on the floor, the machine stops attacking, stands next to Ben and looks down on him.

Ben's body shakes a little and painful sobs cause his abdomen to spasm. Everything is blurry. He struggles to speak pained and barely audible words. "Mercy. Please, mercy. Don't hurt me anymore."

The operator of the MX-32 chuckles and lifts up one of the arms. The hand starts to glow and turns into a shapeless glob, then reforms into a circular saw. "Here's your mercy." It starts spinning and aims for Ben's neck, bringing down for one last fatal blow.


	11. Some Things Never End

**Last chapter: Ben's last day of high school is anything but enjoyable... his battle to save Julie costs him his life.**

Chapter 8: Some Things Never End

Whether the death of Benjamin Tennyson was beneficial or negative has never been decided. There are some who claim it is favorable because a life-form barely an adult by his own race's standards no longer wields one of the most powerful devices in the universe. And in any case, he was not the one meant to receive it.

Yet others argue that a hero of many races across several galaxies has been lost. Ben had more experience with the Omnitrix than anyone else. He was an icon of power for many races, loved and respected by those he didn't even know.

On the day before the doomsday device was to be shipped to Draconoid space, a professional platoon of Plumber warriors succeeded in eliminating all of the Knights, Highbreed and DNAliens with minimal losses. The weapon was secured and dismantled by scientists on Encephalonus II. A new squad was then assigned to Ben's part of Earth.

As for the Omnitrix, it was found floating in an asteroid field around Alpha Centauri. Its creator Azmuth declared the device too valuable to be destroyed but not something that ought to be easily accessed, as even the most secure building could be broken into. So he had it placed in a discreet asteroid field, with devices that would block the unique sensor signals the Omnitrix gives. Ten heavily armed fleets were used, each dispatched to a different area – but nine were decoys.

On the Draconoid homeworld, a ceremony was held in honor of Ben. It lasted three days and by the time it ended, seven billion humans and aliens had come to give their respect to him. Among the visitors were many of Ben's acquaintances from over the years: Tetrax, the Plumber recruits that Max tutored, Reinrassic III, and Elena Validus. Even Vilgax, now debilitated by disease and forced to walk with a cane, came to honor the one foe he could never defeat.

A huge statue, over a thousand feet tall, was made of Ben, his arms in front of him as though ready to press down on the head of the Omnitrix. To either side were smaller statues of his two allies, Gwen and Kevin, both of whom died before him. In a ring around him, the twenty-six races and the names he had given to them.

They keynote speaker was Julie Yamamoto, whose words about her hero boyfriend were frequently said with tears. Billions on the planet with her and in other galaxies cried and mourned along with her. She spoke about her first love, his caring heart, his daredevil attitude and how he was committed to keeping the universe safe.

From all of this, it can be agreed that the story of Benjamin Tennyson has not ended, and likely it never will. Like the heroes of Earth's ancient years, the strong Hercules and the servant Moses, Ben is a legend whose name will be remembered for centuries to come.


End file.
